Meet Physicians and Scientists

John Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, MHSc, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, discusses how the Duke Cancer Institute is studying DNA and genetics with the goal of creating each individual's unique cancer "fingerprint" to offer targeted therapies.

A young woman comes to a clinic in San Antonio, Texas, after her boyfriend goes to prison. She wants to begin a new life outside of the gang world they were part of. Before he went to prison, her boyfriend left reminders to ensure she would not forget him: his name tattooed on her breasts. She asks the doctor to help her start a new phase in life by removing the tattoos, but she can’t afford laser removal.

When K.V. Rajagopalan, PhD, arrived in the United States from India to begin his postdoctoral work in the Department of Biochemistry at Duke, he familiarized himself with the department’s members by reading their journal articles. Among them were a series of papers reporting startling research on oxygen radicals by a young biochemist named Irwin Fridovich, PhD’55.

Fumiko Chino, MD, a resident in radiation oncology, last summer co-authored research showing that the high cost of cancer care is a serious problem for many patients.

Lawrence David, PhD, studies this hidden world, the community of hundreds of different species of bacteria that make up each person's gut microbiome. We are seldom aware of their presence, but they interact with us in countless ways and play a profound role in determining our health. In a way, they help make us who we are.

Why do perfectly good cancer treatments suddenly stop working? Researcher and lymphoma survivor Kris Wood is finding answers.

Researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute are teaming up with several other institutions to develop a fluorescent dye that is injected into cancerous tumors and lights up when viewed under a special camera. This allows surgeons to see if residual cancer remains after the tumor has been removed.

Did you know that one in five new cancers is caused by infection? Meira Epplein, PhD, a co-leader for Duke Cancer Institute’s Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program, is working to get the word out about testing and treatment for a common stomach bacterium called h pylori.

Learn why Paul Rudershausen is cycling across North America to raise funds for the research of Jason Somarelli, PhD, at Duke Cancer Institute. Somarelli studies the genes that promote cancer spread in both humans and dogs.

Outside, it is a Friday afternoon in early March: cold, bright, windy. Inside- in a small room on the first floor of the Duke Clinic – it is after dinner and Count Ilyick Rostov has downed another ryumka of vodka in the bar of Moscow’s Hotel Metropol.